TO paraphrase the Beatles, it was 20 years ago today, Rev. Jackson taught the band to play. Well, what’s the state of “the band” today? And what does the rise of last night’s keynoter, Barack Obama, suggest for black politics in the 21st century?

Though Ronald Reagan would go on to win an overwhelming re-election victory in 1984, history-making currents were swirling through the Democratic Party, as civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson threw his hat into the Democratic primary.

The neophyte politician ran a strong race, though coming in third behind Gary Hart and eventual nominee Walter Mondale. Along the way, Jackson stumbled badly when calling New York “Hymietown,” a slur against Jews. Still, the campaign succeeded in inspiring younger minority voters. And Jackson would use the contacts he’d gained on the presidential trail to register new voters – helping the Democrats regain the Senate in 1986.

Two decades later, after years of foolish political decisions by Jackson, another man is sparking the imagination of blacks and whites.

Obama was born to a Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother; his parents split up soon afterward. Obama grew up in Hawaii, later went on to Harvard where became the first black editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.

Now a law professor and Illinois state senator, Obama is nearly a lock to win a U.S. Senate seat this fall. He grabbed an impressive 53 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate Democratic primary. Then a sex scandal forced his Republican opponent out of the race. GOP efforts to recruit Chicago football legend Mike Ditka were fruitless.

Obama comes across as polished and professional – indeed, smooth almost to the point of being slick. But he draws a crowd whenever he goes. Make no mistake, the man is a liberal. Yet he eschews the explicit racial politics of Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton for a more inclusive approach.

He demonstrated this last night, saying, “I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.”

Democrats push him as part of the “America’s Future” generation and (along with Senate candidates of Native American and Latino heritage in Oklahoma and Colorado) a member of their party’s “Dream Team.”

But the old vanguard of racial politics – as epitomized by Sharpton – isn’t going anywhere soon. As The Rev himself puts it: “You’ve always had blacks who have had influence as the inside elected and as outsiders with broad influence. Obama comes from the inside elected tradition like a Doug Wilder and I come from the outside tradition like a Jackson.”

In fact, Sharpton notes that after Jackson’s second presidential run, Wilder was Virginia’s governor, Carol Moseley Braun was a senator from Illinois and Ron Brown was the chairman of the Democratic National Convention. “In many ways, [if he wins] Obama is the only one, whereas there were three during the height of Jesse’s influence.”

Has the community advanced since that run? “Yes and no. There are more blacks in Congress and more blacks with wealth. But in some ways less. We’re still doubly unemployed. We’ve made some progress and in other areas no progress.

“One area where we haven’t progressed – and that’s something I’m going to talk about [tonight] is in the influence of African policy – Sudan. I’m still horrified that the civil-rights leadership hasn’t made a real issue out of Sudan. There’s no more blatant form of racism in the world than what is going on in Sudan. And even then, some Congressional Black Caucus members only responded after Colin Powell went there. We need to deal with our influence on Sudan. Thus our influence on African policy hasn’t advanced since the days of Dubois.”

On the one hand, Sharpton rightly shined a light on Sudan three years ago. However, other things seemed to take priority for him in the interim – police brutality in Ohio, Naval training in Vieques, the presidential race. Does he feel that he dropped the ball?

Sharpton says, “No. I thought our original challenge would have made other members of the civil-rights leadership involved. I intend to deal with it [tonight] and I intend to go back to the Sudan before Election Day.”

As for George W. Bush’s request that black voters consider the Republican Party, Sharpton laughs: “President Bush asked several questions at the Urban League last week. I intend to answer those questions tonight.”